Puffins,Coos and Kelpies oh my! :16 day , photo travelogue on the Caribbean Princess to the UK, Ireland, and Iceland 7-12-24

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The black church at Budir

 

 

 

 

 

 

A waterfall in the distance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had seen people mounting horses coming in and now they were riding . These were shot from the moving bus as we were returning to the ship .

 

 

 

 

The Islandic Horse Gait , not my video

 

 

Edited August 13 by scubacruiserx2

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 We joined what looked to be a long queue to return to the ship . I asked Pat to hold my place to walk over and take a couple of photos of our ship since the light was at our back .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had been on a 5 hour tour so the tender line was moving fast in the early afternoon .

 

 

 

 

 As I paused for this video clip I saw Pat nearing the ramp and hustled to join her . We were 4th in line . I wish that the ship's crew would use these same rapid procedures in the event of a true emergency and some people may panic . We did massive Mass Causality Incidents in the Fire Department at MIA with more than 100 wounded and near death simulations . My 3 kids and wife were made up and given scripts to act and try to challenge and overwhelm the waves of arriving Police , Fire and the EMS . The hospitals were also over loaded . It got so real that a Paramedic tried to take our 4 year old daughter away from my wife to fly her to the children's hospital in one of our helicopters !

 

Edited August 13 by scubacruiserx2

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 After returning to the ship we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the aft buffet as there was no lunch or snack on the tour . It was quite and not busy at all .

 

 

 

 

The day was cool , yet dry and sunny like our South Florida cold fronts in the Winter .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  The Super Tuscan Dinner was at the Crown Grill and costs $ 150 p.p.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After returning to the stateroom to change clothes , we found this letter . We were off early to see the show that Princess had hyped .

 

Edited August 14 by scubacruiserx2

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 The dinner was good but not great . Overpriced and overcrowded like the Chef's Table .  We had a lot of wine but only one that the table liked . It seems that the CB fine dining experience is not nearly as good as the Chef's Table or the Cellar Master dinner on the Enchanted . We would rather do The Chef's Table or the UBD for the  experience and price .

 

 What makes a wine Super Tuscan? A Super Tuscan is generally a red wine from Tuscany that does not restrain itself to indigenous Italian varieties but embraces international grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to create complex premium single-varietal or blended wines.

 From Wine-Searcher 

 

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 We went down a half an hour early to see the show Fantastic Journey . There were only seats on the left side so we took them . The show was touted as Princess Cruises' most technologically innovative production ever - featuring 270 degree 3D-mapped imagery and 14 amazing choreographed drones .

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't allowed to video or flash which is fine as I only wanted  photos . On with the show .

 

 

 

 

Busby Berkley CG

 

 

 

 

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 Some of the singers were good but it seemed that to the crowd and us that the song selection and some of the sets and costumes were aimed at a different age demographic .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The guy groups and ladies soloists were also better than the mixed groups as there were unfortunately no men and women dancing with each other .

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14 by scubacruiserx2

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 My favorite number was when a pretty young lady sang a solo and seemed to grow into a beautiful women in front of our eyes .  And her drones went along for the ride with their new Queen .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  We did have a private guide for Akureyri and another long day of driving . This was a do over port for us that we enjoyed last time but there was room for improvement . We looked forward to meeting Julli and we had a very good correspondence with him and he was very quick to respond and very considerate and efficient - everything that we could want in a guide .

 

 

 He was waiting as we got off the ship and we were off and waddling as fast as we could . Our first request had been to use the best light for photos and we used it all day , first at the port and then across from it . 2 smaller ships were already in port .

 

 

 

 

 Our next stop was the waterfall Godafoss , on the backside before the busses began swarming like the midges . We could get closer to the falls on the other side .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  This was the photo that I had requested to take on our last trip to this city . And this is where it was taken from across the water near the tunnel entrance . Some how we just could get our guide to stop for less than 1 minute the last time .

 

 

 

 

 

We crossed over to the side with the better light and better views and saw our friends .

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goðafoss

 

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 Godafoss Waterfall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 On ( In ) the road from Akureyri to the waterfalls .

 

 

 

 

  We were off to see several waterfalls about 2 hours away . Godafoss was the first and the closest . Dettifoss was next and the largest . It is much higher and wider than Godafoss and it flows 130 miles from the glacier to the Greenland Sea at the rate of 130 , 000 gallons / per minute . It's about a mile over uneven rocks and mud and can be slick closer to the falls . We didn't take many photos as we were hiking using both hiking poles to avoid problems .

 

 

 

 We chose not to go down to the splash zone 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15 by scubacruiserx2

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  Julli showed us another falls on the way back and we hiked a little upstream toward Sellfoss .

 

https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-iceland/drive/selfoss-waterfall

 

 

 

 It's another 2/3 mile and our legs weren't buying it . We saw some young people going so we let them and the camera hike it for us .

 

 

 

 

 

 On the right you can see the rocks that we had to climb to the car park almost a mile away . Julli stayed with us encouraging us and helping to keep us safe . We did have a lot more to see .

Edited August 15 by scubacruiserx2

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 The last waterfall Hafragilsfoss is downstream from Dettifoss .

You can see it downstream boiling in this canyon .

 

 

 

The little red dots on the other side of the falls are people

 

 

 

An Oasis on the rocky ground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canyon

 

 

 

Edited August 15 by scubacruiserx2

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 After hearing all of that running water we were in need of a comfort stop and Julli knew just the place near Lake Myvatn .

The name of the lake (Icelandic mý ("midge") and vatn ("lake"); "the lake of midges") comes from the large numbers of midges present in the summer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mývatn

 

 

 

When we were outside here the swarming were in your eyes , ears and nostrils .

 

 

 

 

 

 We had midge nets but didn't use them as we were moving on .

 

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The Silver Arches , Iceland's answer to the Golden Arches

 

 

 We were now at the Krafla Geothermal plant where they generate electricity from the volcano's heat . The Krafla power station was officially launched in the early 1977, but was only able to produce at its full 60-megawatt capacity after a second steam turbine was installed in 1996.^[1]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krafla_Power_Station

 

 

 

Viti means Hell in Icelandic and it has a too hot to swim lake in a Volcanic Crater .

 

 

 

 

 Because of the elevation here there is snow here even in July and it was cold and windy . Just before we walked up the side of the crater our guide told us to "Go to Hell " .

 

 

Note the people on the lip of the crater like ants

 

 

 

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 We stopped at the Myvatn Nature Baths for a bite to eat and it has and is changing from our last visit there . As you can see there is construction going on .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16 by scubacruiserx2

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 Our next stop was the Namafjall Geothermal which looked like Mars and smells like Hell 

 

 

A smoking fumarole spewing Hydrogen Sulfite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16 by scubacruiserx2

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One last shot of Lake Myvatn before the long ride back to the ship .

 

 

 

 Julli promised to show us some Icelandic Horses before we returned to the ship .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And he promised us one last stop before the ship 

 

 

 

 Julli was the best guy guide that we have used in Iceland and perhaps all of our guides . He was a great blend of cooperation , knowledge , entertainment and experience . We would highly recommend him  .

Edited August 16 by scubacruiserx2

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 A couple of out takes from our last visit to Akureyri

 

 

 

 

 

Whale watch as we were leaving

 

 

 

 

 

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  The current CB cruise will be in Isafjordur on August 24th and this may give them some ideas of what to do . 

 

 A trip to Dynjandi Falls beginning with a Journey through the center of the Earth leaving the fog behind .

 

 

 

 

 

 And exiting back into the sunlight like Jonah spewed from the great fish into a technicolor world , teeming with life .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16 by scubacruiserx2

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  A fish farm , most likely salmon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A first look at the falls

 

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 There are several levels and falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The higher we got the steeper it got

 

 

 

 You can see the first guy wearing a midge net and the midges on the camera lens .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16 by scubacruiserx2

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 On the way back we stopped at the Jon Sigurdsson Museum as it was his birthday which Iceland marks as their Independence  Day from Denmark . 

 

 

 

 After a tour of the museum we were invited for coffee and a great cake in front of the turf houses .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As it was a Sunday they had church services 

 

 

 

 

 

 They also had horse rides for the kids .